Intervalence band solitary waves in semiconductor quantum wells

Abstract

We show theoretically the possibility of excitation of a special class of two-frequency solitons, sustained by the nonlinearity provided by the nonradiative intervalence band coherence between heavy-hole and light-hole excitonic transitions in semiconductor quantum wells. The formation of such resonant solitons excited by femtosecond pulses in InxGa1-xAsyP1-y quantum wells is investigated numerically using a phenomenological model based on the local-field approximation, and a realistic configuration for their experimental observation is proposed. The pumping conditions for using complex resonant soliton dynamics as an efficient source of continuum generation are also discussed.